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“Hi buddy!” she said, waving back. “Let me finish getting the tour from your dad, then we can talk about all the fun stuff we’re going to do today, okay?”
Hudson nodded, smiling his gappy smile at her. My heart flip-flopped in my chest; Hudson had sitters all the time, but he’d never seemed that happy with any of them. His entire demeanor changed when Lana was around—bouncy and excited, not shy and withdrawn like he’d been for the last few years.
“Anyway,” I said, clearing my throat and trying to stay focused, “out back, through these doors, is the patio and the beach.” We walked to the back of the house and I opened the sliding glass door, showing Lana the small concrete deck with table and chairs and the walkway down to the beach.
“Nice. Are you okay if we go down to the beach later?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said, nodding, trying to keep my focus on the tour, not how pretty she looked with the sun glittering on her tanned shoulders. “Huddy has a boogie board to take down there.”
“Fun!”
Next, I showed Lana the guest bathroom and bedroom, then Huddy’s bedroom. Which only left one room in the house she hadn’t seen.
“I take it that’s your bedroom?” She motioned to the closed door on the other side of the guest bath.
I shifted, my lower body tensing, and licked my lower lip. “Yes,” I said, opening the door and waving at my bed, trying to keep my tone light and even. Judging by the action in my pants, I would have loved to extend the tour, but not with Huddy sitting on the couch.
“Nice. This is a really cute place,” she said in an airy voice. “Love it!”
She turned her gaze on me, her eyes wide and shining, and my mind flashed to an image of Lana naked in my bed, her blonde hair spilling over the white pillows and smiling up at me.
Focus, Grant. Stop leching and get to work.
“Thanks. It works for us right now,” I said, closing the door on my bedroom and my Lana-fueled fantasy. “I should be done with my meetings around noon. Should I meet you at the festival in the square?”
“Yes, that sounds good. I’ll take Hudson to the beach this morning, then we’ll see you in the park around lunch. If anything changes, just give me a ring!”
She was so damn perky and cute and confident, I had a hard time concentrating around her. Well, that and my arousal system being at practically nuclear levels; apparently it was still in good working order.
I cleared my throat, swallowed hard. “Okay, well, I’m off then. Bye, Huddy!” I waved to my son, who barely peeled his eyes off the TV to say good-bye. “Bye, Lana.”
Stepping out into the sunshine, I closed the door behind me and exhaled. Even though my instinct should have been to run away from Lana as fast as I could, every time I was near her, all I could think about was how amazing it would feel to touch her, hold her in my arms, be with her.
We definitely had a spark between us, and I wasn’t quite sure how to handle it. Time at the office listening to bickering couples go for the jugular should snap me out of it.
Lana
Well, that bit about the bedroom was awkward. Nothing like getting all hot and bothered before you babysit someone’s kid. Especially when that kid belongs to the person getting you hot and bothered.
Like I said,awkward.
Luckily, once Grant left the house I relaxed and had fun with Hudson. We colored for a little while, then made our way down to the beach. He built a sandcastle, then we boogie boarded in the ocean and caught some great waves. I sent Grant a video of Huddy riding an epic wave to the shore and got a smiley emoji in return, along with a text:
Thanks for watching him. See you at noon.
I debated how to reply for a solid two minutes, torn between the thumbs-up emoji or the smiley kissy face. Gah, choices. After overthinking it, I clicked on the kissy face and threw my phone back in the beach bag, hoping I wouldn’t regret it.
“Hey, Hudson, we should probably dry off and get changed for the festival. You ready?” I asked, standing in the shallow water.
He nodded, his little blonde head gleaming in the bright sun. “Sure.”
Scrambling out of the waves, I wrapped him in his towel, then gathered the rest of our things and we walked hand-in-hand back to the house.
“Thanks for going to the beach with me, Lana,” he said, kicking at the sand with his feet.
“No problem, buddy. Happy to help.”
“I like you better than Taylor.”
